Good Evening and Good Bye
by Maggie Marshall
Summary: Possibilities are always a problem. That's why you gotta stick with the sure things.
1. Chapter One

_Disclaimer: Just to let everyone know, besides not owning these people, I realistically haven't a clue about what they do. I'm neither a doctor nor an ME nor a cop so I apologize ahead of time if any of the terminology or facts just don't seem right. And it's not that I don't like Detective Seely (well, okay, really, I don't…) but I just don't think he'll be sticking around too long._

_I hope you enjoy the story!_

"Lily! My favourite person in the world," Jordan Cavanaugh said, peeking her head into Lily Lebowski's office.

"What do you want, Jordan?" Lily asked suspiciously, lifting her head from her work.

"Lily, I'm insulted," Jordan replied. She entered the office and made her way towards the desk. "What would make you think I want anything?"

"Jordan…" Lily warned.

"Ok, ok. I was hoping that you would be able to get some of those itemized reports done for me tonight. Garret has been breathing down my neck all day and I…"

"Sorry, Jordan. No can do," Lily interrupted. "I'm busy tonight."

"Busy?"

"Yes, busy. I have a date tonight," Lily finished, rather proudly.

"A date?" Jordan sounded astonished. "Really?"

"Now I'm the one who's insulted."

"I'm sorry, Lily," Jordan said, leaning into the desk. "I didn't mean it to sound like that. It's just that… well…"

Lily forgave Jordan with a wave of the hand. "I know. It's been a while."

"So, who's the lucky guy?" Jordan raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"Matt."

"Matt?" she said thoughtfully, racking her brain for a face to put with the name. Her eyes widened with recognition. "You mean, Matt Seely? Detective Matt Seely?"

"Yeah. He's taking me to dinner tonight," Lily said, trying to sound convincing. "We've been out a few times. After you peel back some of those self-centered, sexist layers, he can be a really great guy."

"I think that's… great, Lily."

Lily shook her head in disbelief. "You're not very convincing."

"Yeah, well, I've met the guy." Lily looked horrified. "Lily, I didn't mean that. I guess… I guess I just don't know Detective Seely very well. I'm sure that once you do, he could be… decent."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Jordan," she said sarcastically.

"No, no. I mean it. I hope you have a good time," she said with all of the sincerity she could muster. "So… any way you could get those reports done before you leave?" Jordan asked again, hopefully.

"Out, Jordan." Lily pointed towards the door.

"But Lily…"

"Jordan, out!"

"Fine, fine. But I want details tomorrow!" Jordan called as she hurried out of the room.

Lily sighed. "Yeah, right," she muttered to herself. "Details…"

XXXXX

"Dinner was great. Thank you," Lily said bashfully.

"It wasn't too bad," Matt Seely replied, parking the car in front of a posh townhouse. "I've had better service at that place. Must have been the waiter."

"He was fine. The place was busy."

"Still, no excuse. We'll go some place else, next time." Matt looked out the window. "Well, here we are. You want to come up for a while?" he asked, somewhat suggestively.

Lily inhaled quickly. "Of course." _Where else am I supposed to go_? she thought. _We're already at your place_.

The couple left the car and slowly ascended the outside stairs. A combination of the cool fall and Matt's arm wrapped around Lily's waste sent shivers up her spine. "This is a gorgeous place," she commented, noticing the exclusive neighbourhood.

"Thanks," Matt replied. He turned to look at her after they reached the landing. "Being a detective can have its perks. But growing up with money helps a lot." He winked at her, jokingly. "Just wait until you see the inside," he said, slowly leaning into her. "Especially the bedroom." Lily sighed, a little disgusted but only slightly hesitating as he gently brought his lips to hers. His arms traveled to her waist as her hands began to grip his shoulders. A noise next door startled them both and they turned just as a neighbouring door closed quickly.

"I think we're being watched," Lily whispered.

Matt smiled. "That's Mrs. Henderson. She's the token nosy neighbour. Likes to keep tabs on everyone on the street." He turned around, yelling towards the open window. "We're going inside now, Mrs. Henderson. Don't worry!"

Lily smiled sweetly as Matt opened the door. They were greeted with darkness and as they stepped in, the door slammed behind them.

"Where is it, Seely?" A voice came from the blackened hallway.

"Get out of my house," Matt demanded, stepping in front of Lily, acting as a shield.

A set of lights flipped on, revealing two large men standing in the staircase. Lily tried to scream as another grabbed her from behind, quieting her with his hand around her mouth. She struggled against him while one of the men stepped off the stairs. "We told you what we wanted, Seely. And you know what we do to people who disappoint us."

Matt looked around defeated. "I'll get you what you want. Just give me some more time." He turned towards Lily, who was still trying to free herself. "Let her go. She isn't involved in this."

"You're involved," the man said. "Now she's involved. We've given you enough time. We're done with you." His finger gave the other man the go ahead and Lily closed her eyes as a pistol was drawn from his jacket. She whimpered as she heard the gun go off and a body fall to the floor.

"You're coming with us, Sweetheart," one of men growled, as he stepped forward.

Lily opened her eyes to see Matt lying in a crumpled heap, blood already pooling around him. She looked up at the man, tears in her eyes. "No, please," she pleaded, resisting the other man who still had her in his grasp.

"Knock her out," the first man ordered as he made his way to the door.

Lily heard the front door open before her entire world went black.


	2. Chapter Two

"Detective Matthew Seely. Boston PD. Cause of death - an apparent gun shot wound to the head," Detective Woody Hoyt read off to Jordan and Garret Macy as they entered the townhouse. Seely's body was in the middle of the floor, covered with a sheet.

"The back door was busted in. There's no evidence of robbery but we'll have his belongings inventoried to make sure." Woody stooped down to the entryway floor, pointing at a discarded purse. "The only thing we found out of place was this."

"It's Lily's," Jordan stated quietly. Woody nodded.

Garret looked over the room. "The only blood pool is around Seely." He looked towards the wall. "Blood splatter is indicative of a gunshot. We'll screen it. Make sure that it's all Seely's."

"We got a call from the next door neighbour," Woody explained, standing up. "She said she saw Seely and Lily enter the townhouse, heard the gun shot and then saw three men leaving out the front… with Lily."

"Who are these guys? Has she seen them before?" Jordan asked quickly.

"She didn't recognize them. We'll have her look at photo line-ups. Maybe we'll get lucky." Woody turned towards the interior of the house where two guys were dusting for prints. "I'm checking with the PD supervisor. We'll look through Seely's caseload; see if anything matches the description the neighbour gave us." Woody walked off towards the back of the house, letting the MEs get to work.

Garret nodded. "Let's get Seely's body photographed and to the morgue. We need to get him to trace."

Jordan knelt down beside Macy, peeling back the sheet and revealing a gaping head wound. She pulled out a camera and began to take pictures. "You know," she said to Garret. "Lily was looking forward to this date."

Garret raised his eyebrows, a little uncomfortable with the conversation. "Oh really?" he said quietly, swabbing the blood on the floor.

Jordan stopped photographing for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Yeah. She was supposed to give me all the details about it this morning."

Garret looked at Jordan. "We're gonna find her, Jordan," he said, trying to convince himself as well as her.

Jordan swallowed hard and went back to the camera. "Yeah, of course we are. Of course we are."

XXXXX

"The blood found at the scene was Seely's," Bug said, marching through a set of laboratory doors and towards Macy who was finishing up with the autopsy. "Splatter, everything… The PD couldn't find any unexplainable prints but discovered two shoe prints at the backdoor. They match none of the shoes in Seely's house." Bug stood beside Jordan who pulled a bullet from Seely's skull.

"Shoe prints? Anything substantial?" she asked, dropping the piece of metal into a plastic container.

Bug opened a file. "One is a size 10, the other, an 11. Both look like a military or hiking boot. But there were some foreign substances imbedded in the prints." He flipped through a couple of pages. "It's a type of gravel, limestone. I'm having it analyzed. We'll see what comes up."

Jordan wandered over to one of the several computers and scanned the extracted bullet into the system. "I'm going to check the ballistics database. See if we can tie this to a previous crime."

"No need," Woody announced, strolling into the room. "I've got some good news right here." He wiggled a small file in front of Jordan's face. "Gabriel Martinez, Ricky Waynes, and Tyler "Little T" Harris. Previous assault and drug charges. Were paroled nine months ago. The next-door neighbour positively identified all three men as those who were leaving Seely's townhouse."

"Where can we find these guys?" Bug asked anxiously.

Woody sighed. "Well, that's where the good news ends. There's no existing address for any of them. Their parole officer hasn't seen them for 8 weeks. For all we know they've run off. Left the state… or the country." Woody looked around a little sheepishly.

Jordan grabbed the file from Woody and flipped through it. "I don't get this." She tapped a fingernail. "Why did they target Seely? This says that the arresting detective was someone named Dickson. I don't see Seely's name in this at all."

"That's the other bad news," Woody began. "At this point, we've got no connection between our suspects and the victim. No motive."

"I think we need to have a little talk with this Dickson," Jordan suggested. "Maybe he can tell us where to find these guys."

XXXXX

The room was cold. Lily could feel the dirt beneath her cheek as she began to wake from unconsciousness. She opened her eyes to darkened surroundings, to what looked like a large dirt basement. The pain in her head struck as she attempted to sit up. Reaching for the sore spot, she realized her hands as well as her feet were bound with what she recognized as duct tape. Lily awkwardly touched the side of head, noting the hair clumped together with dried blood.

"You awake?" a rough voice asked from the other side of the room. A flashlight suddenly blinded her while Lily tried to make out the owner of the voice.

"You scream, I'll kill you," he said, coming closer. "Same if ya try to escape."

"I don't have many options, do I?" Lily snapped. The flashlight finally revealed Ricky Waynes, the same man who had ordered Seely to be shot.

"A little bitchy, aren't we?" he snarled, stepping towards her. As he approached, Lily noticed the pistol in his other hand.

"What are you going to do with me?"

Ricky laughed. "Ah Sweetheart, you're going to get us what Seely didn't."

Lily shook her head, tears in her eyes. "You've made a huge mistake. Seely's a detective and they'll be looking for me."

"That's what we're counting on." Ricky swooped down in front of Lily. "And as for Seely, he ain't a detective no more. But he had good taste in chicks," he slithered, reaching over to caress Lily's cheek.

She batted away his hand and lunged towards him, hoping to knock Ricky off balance. He merely swayed before pushing her back into the wall.

"Not smart," Ricky mumbled. He reached over, grabbing Lily's neck, choking her.

Lily struggled against him, finding the world getting hazy as she began to faint. Ricky roughly let her go, leaving her gasping on the floor as he got up. "I told you not to try anything." Lily heard him mutter before she succumb to the loss of air and passed out.


	3. Chapter Three

"Yeah, I remember those three," Robert Dickson stated. "Drug trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon. Not upstanding citizens." Woody and Nigel listened as they followed Dickson through the precinct.

"But what would they want with Detective Seely?" Nigel asked.

"Damned if I know. I mean… those guys have probably been arrested more times than I can count. Maybe Seely was the officer at some time." Dickson stopped at a desk, shuffling through some papers. "This was his desk. Maybe there's something here."

Woody shrugged as he began flipping through a file. Nigel strolled behind, trying to open the top drawer. "You've got a key for this?"

Dickson looked around, checking through the various pencil holders and desk trays that were scattered all over. As he dumped out a paperclip box, a small gold key fell onto the floor. "Luck of the draw," Dickson announced, picking up the key.

"We'll have to see," Nigel said, taking the key and sticking it into the lock. The drawer opened immediately, revealing a zip disk and a larger key. "Any idea what's on this?" Nigel asked, picking up the disk.

"Not a clue. Normally, we keep everything back up on the server. Unless it's personal stuff," Dickson answered.

"What about the key?" Nigel commented. "Another drawer?"

"Too big," Woody added. "Almost looks like it's for a storage shed, a padlock maybe. I'll check with some of the local locksmiths. See what they can tell us."

"I'll take the disk back to the morgue," Nigel offered, "and run it through my own personal locksmith. Depending on how badly it's encrypted, I should have something in a couple of hours."

"Well, I hope you find these guys," Dickson said. "I don't like having cop killers running loose. Everyone here at the precinct wanna piece of them."

Woody nodded. "Trust me," he said, patting Dickson on the back. "You guys aren't the only ones."

XXXXX

"Ballistics brought up nothing," Jordan explained as she rushed down the morgue hallway with Macy. "Bug has checked into the shoeprints found at the scene. The boot is a type of hiking boot. Some amateurs use it for cliff climbing. He's running a list of local retailers who sell this brand."

"Actually, there's only one," Bug injected as he followed his colleagues into the trace lab. "A shop on the east side of Boston. I faxed over a copy of the mug shots. We got confirmation from one of the salesmen that Ricky Waynes bought them four days ago. He paid with cash."

"Okay," Macy said, trying to think. "We'll search the vicinity around the store. Maybe someone in the neighbourhood knows where these guys like to hang out."

"I think we've got bigger issues," Nigel said, marching into the lab along with Woody. "The disk we found in Seely's desk contained some pretty incriminating evidence. There are electronic bank statements to an account in the Cayman Islands. Our detective was sitting on a load amounting to over five million dollars."

"Ooo, a rich cop," Jordan quipped. "I always miss the good ones."

"Touché, my love," Nigel continued. "I requested the most recent account transactions from the 'bank'. There was another deposit for $500,000… the day of Seely's murder."

"What would he be doing with that much cash?" Garret questioned. "I doubt it was his birthday."

"Already solved," Woody jumped in. "We checked with several of the storage facilities in the area. The key matched one 3 miles from Seely's place. I sent Dickson and some of his crew to check it out. They found it stocked with bags of crack cocaine."

"So, what do we have here?" Jordan struggled to work through the evidence. "A drug selling cop who got mixed up with the wrong crew?"

A cell phone ring pierced everyone's thoughts. Macy patted himself down to find his phone. "Macy," he said, rather annoyed.

"Garret?" the voice on the other end sounded frightened.

"Lily!?" Macy exclaimed. He had everyone's attention. "Lily, where are you? Are you all right?"

"I'm okay," Lily replied unconvincingly, choking through tears. "Garret, they want to talk to someone. I didn't know who else to call."

"No, no," Macy reassured. "It's fine. Who's with you?"

"Garret, I…" Lily's voice stopped suddenly as the phone was ripped from her. A deep, rough voice took her place. "You know she's alive. Now I want my money."

"Who is this?" Macy demanded. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about," the man answered. "We know you found the locker. Now I want my money."

Macy looked at Woody for help. "Agree to whatever they want. Keep them talking. We'll try to get a trace on the call," Woody ordered as he ran from the room.

"Whatever you want," Macy repeated. "Just tell me where she is and we'll give you the money."

"Not so fast, Dr. Macy," the voice chuckled. "We play by my rules. You have 24 hours to empty out that bank account. We'll call you then." Macy cringed as the phone line went dead.

"Well?" Jordan insisted. "What did they say?"

Macy shook his head, shutting his phone off. "It sounds like they want to make a trade. The bank account money for Lily."

"How do they know about the bank account?" Nigel asked.

Jordan sighed. "Obviously Seely's more connected to them than we originally thought."

"Well, we need to get on this," Macy ordered. "Go find Woody. We'll need the PD's help setting this up. And they'll be calling back in 24 hours. I want taps on all the phones." Jordan nodded, running towards the hallway.

Macy turned to Nigel. "We need more information on the account. When it was set up and by whom. Maybe we can figure out the connection on this." Nigel grabbed the disk and headed towards the next lab.

Bug stood in front of Macy, waiting for orders. "We should talk to those boot retailers. If we can get a location of where they could be…"

"Is she okay?" Bug asked, wanting the truth.

Macy shrugged sadly. "She sounded scared. I'm not too sure how much she was allowed to say."

Bug's features grew angry. "If they've hurt her…"

Macy patted Bug's shoulder. "We're working on it, Bug. At least we know she's alive."


	4. Chapter Four

"The account was set up by Detective Seely eight months ago," Nigel reported to Bug as they stared at the lab computer. "The deposits are all the same - $500,000. There is no way in finding out who was buying with this account. All of the transactions were done in cash."

Bug shook his head, trying to figure out the motives. "So, Seely got the drugs from our suspects and then sold them to who?"

"Dr. Townstead?" an intern said, poking his head into the lab. "I've got those reports for you."

Grabbing the files, Nigel immediately began flipping through them. "Thanks," he mumbled as the intern silently left. "I think we've got something here." He laid the file open on the table in order for Bug to follow. "We analyzed some of the cocaine that Detective Dickson recovered from the storage facility. This stuff is nowhere near to being pure. There are high levels of cheap street drugs. The amount of cocaine would be worth an eighth of the account deposits."

Bug caught on to Nigel's training of thought. "So, instead, Seely is selling this stuff to our suspects. They must have found out about the street value."

"No wonder they're awfully pissed," Nigel retorted. "I'd want my money back too."

Woody's voice could be heard in the hallway. "I think Woodrow would like to know about this little tidbit of information," Nigel said, grabbing the file and heading into the hall with Bug close on his heels. "Woodrow!" he called. "Seely has been lying to more than just his colleagues." The two doctors reached Woody where he was standing speaking with Detective Dickson.

"Guys, I'm just in the middle of something." Woody nodded towards his company.

"But you've got to hear this," Nigel continued. "The drugs from the storage locker contain all types of impurities. Seely was hustling the dealers. He was taking their money and giving them something worth a fraction of the cost."

They had Woody's attention. "Okay, so our guys figure they are entitled to their cash. But how do they know about the account?"

"Maybe because they are the only ones who bought from Seely," Bug suggested. "Maybe the five million dollars is theirs."

"Do we give them what they want?" Woody wondered aloud.

Dickson looked incredulously at the three men. "What do you mean, 'give them what they want'? You're gonna fork over all of that money?"

"It's what they're demanding," Woody explained.

Dickson became irate. "And we're gonna just give it to them? C'mon here…"

"Now I didn't say we were just going to give it to them. We have to be careful, start strategizing…" Woody tried to continue.

"And for what? Some chick that Seely was banging? Give me a break!"

Dickson's words rang in Bug's ears. He looked to Nigel and Woody, who just stood there, a little shocked. Dickson was waiting for a reaction and got one as Bug lunged towards him. He grabbed the detective by his collar, bringing the taller man down to his height. "If you EVER refer to her like that again, I will personally ensure that you never 'bang' another woman again," Bug hissed, his grip on the detective's shirt tightening with every word.

Dickson pushed the smaller man back, looking at him with disgust. "You doin' her too?" he said. Nigel grabbed Bug as he threw himself back at Dickson.

Woody pushed the detective back into the wall. "Watch it. You don't know who you're talking about here."

"Well, I know for damn sure that we're not just going to give these jerks all of this money." Dickson backed away, glaring at Bug.

"Let's just try and deal with this one step at a time," Woody assured. "We have about 18 hours until these guys call again. We need to decide how we're going to set up the drop, whether it actually happens, will be up to us."

XXXXX

Lily hurt. As she lay against the cold, dirt wall, she began to take inventory of her own well-being. Her capturers were less than gentle and in the midst of the phone call, she had received a large gash on her cheek from being thrown into the nearby staircase. Her fingers were numb as were her toes. For being November, the basement was unsurprisingly cold. As a result, she knew the fact that she had stopped shivering was not a good sign.

Lily heard the large steel door open at the top of the stairs. Two sets of footsteps came down and voices were muttering once again about the money. She recognized one of the voices, the man everyone referred to as Ricky. The other voice was new. She had heard all three men speak. This male voice was different and she cringed at the possibility that this new person brought.

The men stopped at the bottom of the stairs and Lily closed her eyes, hoping they would think she was unconscious. "So, what are they gonna do?" Ricky said, slightly angry. "We've got what they want. They're gonna have to pay for it."

"It ain't gonna be that easy, Ricky," the other voice said. "You know it's police protocol. We have to deal. It doesn't mean we're not going to kill you guys in the process."

"Well, just keep your nose in everything and we'll make sure you get your cut. We ain't leavin' here without the money."

"Don't worry about it," the voice assured. "I'll take care of it. Now where is she? I wanna get a look at Seely's flavour of the week. I mean… he talked about her enough."

Lily heard footsteps approaching her, the flick of a flashlight being turned on. As she lay still, she opened her eyes slightly, hoping to get a glance of the new person she had to fear. The flashlight beam brightened her vision and before her stood Detective Dickson, a slight grin on his face.

"Now I know what all of the fuss was about," he slithered. Lily shivered once again.

XXXXX

"All of the phones have been tapped," Jordan relayed to Garret. "Woody has the equipment in the conference room. He said that we should probably wait there for the next phone call."

"If they're true to their word, we've got at least 8 more hours. I want everyone to stay around here. Just in case these guys decide to jump the gun." Garret pushed open the door to his office. "Did Nigel get anything else off of that account?"

"Nothing. It's just a standard offshore bank account, as standard as a five million account can be."

There was a slight knock on the door before Bug came barreling through it. "Dr. Macy! We've got something here with the shoe prints." Bug threw down a file that he was carrying and opened it to reveal its contents. "I spoke with the salesman at the store, asking him if he knew where Ricky Waynes could possibly be. Unfortunately, he had never seen Ricky before the day he bought the boots. However," Bug said, flipping over several pages, "the gravel we found in the prints came back with a hit. The limestone is localized to rock formations along the coast. The shop is two blocks from Boston's east shore."

"Okay," Garret said, processing the information. "Can we run possible cabins or shore property for any of these guys? Parents, relatives?"

Bug shook his head. "Nigel has already run those. We've come up with nothing."

"What about abandoned housing?" Jordan suggested. "Maybe these guys are squatters."

Bug nodded, considering her comments. "This is a pretty exclusive area. I would be surprised to find any abandoned homes."

Woody suddenly entered the office. He looked at his three colleagues. "Try the name Dickson."


	5. Chapter Five

"This guy just rubs me the wrong way," Woody explained as the group gathered around Nigel's computer. "First off, he knew a little too much about Seely's desk. I mean, that key just magically appeared from a paperclip box. Now if that was me and I really wanted a drawer locked, I would have hidden it a lot better. Then there is how these guys knew about the account and the fact they KNEW we had found the storage facility. His outburst yesterday just sealed it for me." Woody patted Bug on the back. "I mean, his response to these guys was typical but he was adamant about not making the deal. It may just be his personality but I think that Detective Dickson is a little more involved than it seems."

"1913 Brook Lane. The address belongs to a Diane Dickson who died 8 months ago. She willed it to her son, Robert Dickson," Nigel announced triumphantly as his computer spit out the information.

"Just as I thought. Okay, let's get a task force out to that location," Woody said, snapping into action. "We can't let Dickson know about this. As far as he knows, we're waiting for a phone call."

XXXXX

Lily had fallen into a fitful sleep after the Ricky and his associate had left. She began to dream, the night with Seely coming back to her. She envisioned the two of them walking into his townhouse, the door slamming behind them and Ricky's voice ordering Seely to be shot. As the gunshot rang through her ears, she startled awake. There was a commotion above her and it was then she realized that the shot wasn't only apart of her dream. Footsteps echoed from upstairs, running the length of the house. Another shot was heard and large thud paused the chaos right over her head.

The basement door opened and Lily braced herself for the worst. Through the darkness, she recognized Ricky's stature. He roughly grabbed her, urging her to stand. "Let's go," he demanded. Lily could barely move as the duct tape around her feet prevented her from walking. "Son of a bitch!" Ricky said, realizing his error. "I don't have time for this." He bent down, trying to remove the tape.

"Freeze!" a voice called through the darkness. From the flashlights they were carrying, Lily recognized the uniforms of Boston PD. Her first sense of relief was crushed as Ricky leapt to his feet, wrapping his arm around her throat, a pistol pointing directly at Lily's head.

"I'll kill her," he growled. "I've got nothing to lose."

"Just put down the gun," the officers bargained with him. "No one has to get hurt."

Ricky began his move towards the stairs, dragging Lily as she tried to keep up with him. His ascent up the steps was therefore slow but he kept the uniforms at bay with the gun tightly pressed against Lily's temple.

The light became blinding as they reached the top and Lily took in her surroundings, realizing that it was in fact day. The two officers followed them into the kitchen, trying to determine the best course of action. The floor was pooled with blood and they stepped over the body of Lily's fourth capturer, Dickson, dead from a gunshot to the chest. Ricky dragged her into what looked like the living room and out of the corner of her eye, Lily recognized Detective Hoyt standing in the adjacent hallway, his pistol drawn.

"Let her go," Woody commanded. Ricky twisted towards the voice and Woody took the opportunity of surprise, firing one shot that flew past Lily's face and into Ricky's head. Lily felt Woody's hands grab her and pull her out of the way as Ricky fell to the floor. "Are you all right?" he asked, her response was a slight nod.

Footsteps rushed up behind Woody and Lily turned to see Jordan and Bug coming towards them.

"Lily!" Jordan exclaimed.

A true sense of relief caused Lily's knees to go weak and as she sunk to the floor, Bug caught her in his arms, following her to the ground. "It's okay," Bug whispered, visually assessing her injuries.

"I want to go home," Lily whimpered, resting her head against Bug's chest.

Jordan pulled a pocketknife from her jacket and began working on the duct tape around her wrists. "Let's get paramedics over here!" she yelled to three more Boston PD who had followed in behind.

Woody stepped towards Ricky, grabbing the pistol from the floor and ensuring that there were no other signs of life. "He's the last one," Woody instructed the two original officers. "Let's get everyone out of here."

Jordan freed Lily's hands and gently clasped them together with her own. "You're freezing," she observed.

Lily cracked a slight smile. "Remind me never to wear a dress on another date."

Jordan chuckled as she cut the tape from her feet. Lily felt Bug struggle slightly behind her as he worked to get his coat off and drape it over top her. His body warmth and the exhaustion of the ordeal took it toll on Lily. She heard the paramedics reach them before she closed her eyes and finally passed out.

XXXXX

"Lily, Nigel said it was quite the performance," Jordan giggled, as she sat in Lily's living room. "Bug had a grip on the guy's shirt. Almost choked him."

"It wasn't like that," Bug tried to explain from the adjacent kitchen counter where he was making popcorn. "I didn't even hurt him. Besides, the guy was a jerk."

"Bug was just trying to protect your good name," Jordan quipped, downing the remainder of her beer.

Lily grinned at Bug from the couch where she sat, bundled up under several blankets. "My hero," she said, only somewhat joking.

"Well, Dickson definitely got what was coming to him," Jordan said.

"How did Woody know that he was involved?" Lily asked, reaching for the wine bottle sitting on the coffee table.

"Call it good police intuition. But Dickson was in it from the very beginning. He knew he couldn't get access to the money if the account was in Seely's name so he bargained with the other three to get rid of Seely," Jordan explained. "Gabriel Martinez spilled everything. He said that Dickson was the one who bought and sold the cheap drugs. Seely was just the accountant."

Lily shook her head. "I should have known."

"Look, how were you to know that Detective Seely would be involved in something like this?" Jordan reassured. "It could have happened to anyone."

"But something never felt right about him. I never felt safe around him," Lily spoke softly. "I guess I was just caught up in the possibilities."

Jordan smiled gently at her. "Those possibilities are always a problem." She got up from the chair she was in, walking towards the kitchen. "That's why you've gotta stick with the sure things," she said as she placed her beer bottle on the counter, patting Bug's shoulder on the way past. "Well, I should get going."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Lily said. "Bug and I are going to watch an old East Indian movie he brought over."

"My parents gave it to me," Bug grinned. "It's a musical."

Jordan rolled her eyes. "As appealing as that sounds, Garret asked me to stop in tonight. There are a few things that still need cleaning up." She walked over the couch, giving Lily a warm hug. "We're glad to see you home."

Lily smiled. "Me too. I don't think I could have stood that hospital a minute longer."

"And Macy said he didn't want to see you for another week," Jordan warned as she put on her coat. "Take him up on that offer. There'll be plenty of work when you get back."

"Oh, I'm sure there will be," Lily said, imagining the mess on her desk.

"Enjoy your movie," Jordan said, opening the door to leave.

"Night, Jordan," Bug called as the door shut and he made his way over to the couch. He took a seat beside Lily and set the bowl of popcorn on the table.

"You warm enough?" he asked, settling himself in.

"Yeah," Lily answered, flipping on the television and grabbing some popcorn. She pressed play on the DVD player and cautiously looked at Bug before resting her head against he shoulder. He smiled slightly and wrapped his arm along the back of the couch, allowing Lily to snuggle in closer.

The movie started and Lily yawned. "Already falling asleep?" Bug joked. "You know that this movie is 3 hours long, don't you?"

"You might have to give me condensed version sometime," she said, yawned again.

Moments passed as they sat in silence. Lily briefly looked up at Bug, mulling over her thoughts. "Bug?"

"Yeah?" he answered, his concentration mostly on the movie.

"Can I ask you something? And you promise not to laugh?"

His attention was suddenly drawn to her. "Of course," he said sincerely.

Lily carefully considered her words. She looked up at him. "You know that you're my best friend, right?"

He nodded slowly.

She sighed. "And you know that considering everything, I am completely vulnerable right now."

Bug looked at her with careful regard. "I guess…"

"Will you stay here tonight?"

"Lily, I… uh…" Bug stammered.

Lily rolled her eyes, realizing that she had asked too much. This wasn't like her, especially not with Bug. "I'm sorry, Bug. I didn't mean…"

"No, no. That's okay," Bug said, completely flustered.

Lily took a deep breath. "Bug, it's just that, you are the only man in my life who I trust. You make me feel safe. And I need that…"

Bug smiled slowly. "Lily…" he started.

"Yeah?"

"Of course I'll stay… on the couch."

Lily sighed with relief. "Thanks." She smiled, snuggling into his chest and returning to the movie. "See? You always understand me."

"Yeah," Bug smiled to himself. He got comfortable, wrapping his arm around Lily's shoulders and enjoying the contact. "I do."

The End


End file.
